I am 3 weeks away from my due date and the time sure has gone by fast!!! For the last six or seven months I knew we had a child coming but I kept telling myself, " O I have plenty of time to prepare." Now it can be any day now and my mind has just gone completely blank and I have no idea how to prepare myself. To make matters worse, I told my family that I would take it easy until the end of the pregnancy. So now I have to sit still with a blank mind to keep me company....
This is not like me at all. It is very hard for me to sit still so last night I decided to try and do some belly shots with the family before it's too late. The only problem with this is for some reason, I can never get my whole family together at the same time and be in the mood to take pictures. So I now see I may have to complete this project in stages. Below is a shot I had in my mind for a while to try and do. I was going for more of a silhouetted look and I think I was able to pull it off. Thanks to my daughter Divine for taking great directions. After this period of my life is over, I vow to remain in back of the camera simply because I am just to to picky. Enjoy..... More to come.....
Who says you can't be eight months pregnant and work a Bridal Show.... (smiley face) I just got back from doing my first Bridal Expo. We were in Schaumburg Ill. today and I met with a ton of fantastic brides and grooms despite the big Bears football game today. I had so much fun and received a lot of great feedback about my photography services. BIG THANK YOU to my husband Cory for helping me this weekend. I promise to rest now until the baby is born! Here are a few pictures from today's show.
One of my goals for 2011 is to try harder to keep my blog postings as consistent as possible. I have not written in a couple of days and I apologize. One of the reasons why I haven't been able to post is because I have been in battle with a virus that hit my computer. I could hardly do anything for days. It's funny how you never realize how important something is to you until it's gone. Kind of like a great relationship....
Anyhow, besides the computer issues, I have been busily getting ready to do my first wedding bridal show.....(yeahhhh) I am so excited and very much nervous at the same time. Cory and I(poor guy I drag him along everywhere) will be in the Chicago area this weekend participating as vendors at a major bridal expo. I pray for it to be a success.
Lastly, on a side note, I am anxiously awaiting putting some time aside to take some belly photos. Hopefully next week sometime I can get that done and post asap.
As my husband and I struggle to agree on a name for our new addition we are expecting next month, I started to think about names and how important they are. There are so many studies out there that prove how a persons name alone can cause them to be prejudged or overlooked for things such as job interviews or college scholarships. Finding that perfect name for a person is a very tall order. Then my thinking shifted over to the name of my business, Blessed Creations.
I know it seems like every person who is a follower of Christ who has a small business or something they do on the side calls themselves Blessed something. In my local area alone we have Blessings Hair Salon, Blessed Magazine, Blessed Day Care .....Seems almost uncreative of me to call myself Blessed Creations.... The truth is that ever since I began down this road I have been blessed. I was blessed to graduate from college while raising a family, blessed to have been hired by the clients that have used my services, and blessed to have learned so much so quickly from so many established professionals.
Many photographers often name their businesses after there name. I tried doing that myself for a short while. Just as I did, my phone stopped ringing and I felt the style of my work changing. I quickly changed back to Blessed Creations because I know the work I do is not about ME.... its about being a blessing to my clients. I create loving memories for the couples and families I work with that will last a life time. When I photograph a wedding, I am pausing moments in time that can never be relived. This to me is a blessing fulfilled, and I love being able to do this with professionalism and quality.
So Blessed Creations by Monica Brazier Photography is the current name I have decided on for now. Basically because I know I can do all things through Christ and God + Me = Anything is possible! I hope my potential clients do not get scared or pre-judge me because of the name I have chosen. Don't worry, I don't force my religion on to anyone. I just want people to know that I am a Christian and can be trusted to provide services with their best interest at heart.
It has been snowing off and on for the last three days here in South Bend Indiana. Yesterday morning we woke up to a ton of snow at our feet. Since the family was snowed in, I amused myself by taking some random pictures from my daughters bedroom window. The first set are of my husband Cory shoveling the driveway like a mad man. I think I tell him every year that we need to invest in a snow blower, maybe this storm has him convinced.
Children from across the street playing in the snow.
My daughter Divine took this picture. She thought it was cool to see how high the snow had piled on the trash bins.
These next pics document a car that got stuck in the snow across the street from us. It was nice to see how random neighbors joined together to help this person out.
I was just sitting here reflecting on 2010 and feeling really happy about the growth and learning I experienced. I am so excited about the things I have planned for myself and my family in 2011 and cannot wait to get started. Before I dive in, I have to get a couple of things out of the way first like... giving birth to my third child and getting everything prepared for that. My due date is February 19th which is right around the corner. I cannot wait to see her face and to just get her here just to make sure she is ok. My husband and I are still undecided about a name but I am sure we will come up with something (hopefully brilliant) before she gets here.
On a slightly different note.... a lot of my family and friends got pictures from me for Christmas. It made me realize that a gift from the heart is always so much better than a gift that is store brought. I loved to see the expressions on everyone's face when they saw the framed photo collages that I put together for them. It made me feel really proud of myself and my work. To end this post I just want to share a few of the photos from a collage I put together for my mother to offer her some inspiration when she looks at it. These are photos that I took at the Morton Arboretum in Illinois this past fall.
My Sister and I
My mommy
Me trying to relive my modeling days
Love these! I added inspirational verses according to what I thought the image represented.
